Dangerous driver Jack Hart jailed over deaths of schoolboys in Hull

A speeding driver who killed two schoolboys after illegally undertaking other vehicles in a bus lane has been jailed.

Jack Hart's high performance BMW collided with 10-year-old Stephen Duffield and Mason Deakin, 11, as they rode a bicycle on a flyover at Anlaby Road in Hull on 19 October 2020.

Hart, 32, was travelling at around 57mph in a 30mph zone at the time, Hull Crown Court heard.

Judge John Thackray KC described him as treating the bus lane as "your own personal race track".

Stephen died the same day. Mason died at Leeds General Infirmary two weeks later.

Hart removed a dashcam from the car after the crash and later refused to accept responsibility, instead trying to blame the boys for riding towards him in the bus lane.

He denied causing death by dangerous driving until the day before his trial was due to start, when he changed his plea to guilty.

Footage shown to the court from another driver's dashcam showed the moment of the crash.

The court heard a witness confronted Hart at the scene, asking him: "Where the hell did you come from?"

Another described Hart's driving as "extremely dangerous and far too aggressive for the conditions".

Hart claimed there was "no way" he could have avoided the collision.

The court was told Hart had previously been fined six times for driving offences, several of which were for using a bus lane.

'My heart hurts'

In a victim statement, Stephen's mother Alison Duffield said: "My life ended that day. I have no life. Stephen was our life and he has gone."

She added: "Everything has changed. Christmas last year came and went. Everything has been affected."

Mason's mother Kirsty Gould, who found Mason in the road fatally injured after being alerted to what had happened, said in a statement: "My life will never be the same... my heart hurts that we will never be able to make any more memories."

In a letter to the court, Hart said he was "truly sorry". He added: "If I could have swapped I would have. I wish it was me who died."

Judge John Thackray told Hart the incident was an "accident waiting to happen". He said Hart had used the bus lane as "your own personal racing track" and caused "devastation" to the families of the two victims through his "deliberate decision to disregard rules of road".

The judge rejected Hart's claims that he was sorry, saying: "I have not detected a jot of remorse."

Hart was jailed for nine years and banned from driving for 13 years.

Speaking after the sentencing, senior investigator Sgt Rob Mazingham, of Humberside Police, said: "Jack Hart showed a reckless disregard for the safety of others, driving through the city centre in rush-hour traffic at grossly excessive speed, undertaking vehicles and ignoring bus lane regulations.

"Driving in such a manner made a collision at some point inevitable, and tragically, his impatience and irresponsible actions took the lives of the two boys who had everything to look forward to."

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